Advancing High-Performance Mass Spectrometry for Routine Laboratories

At this year’s American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference, Bruker announced the launch of two new mass spectrometry products – the timsTOF Ultra 2 for deep proteomics and the neofleX™ MALDI-TOF system for spatial biology applications.

Also at the conference, Bruker Applied MS took to the floor to showcase the latest innovations in mass spectrometry, the ecTOF and EVOQ DART-TQ⁺ mass spectrometers.

Jeffery Zonderman, senior vice-president of Bruker Applied MS, joined the Technology Networks team for an interview to discuss these latest advancements in mass spectrometry for research and analysis in routine laboratories.

Improving confidence in compound identification

The ability to perform untargeted analyses is a key priority for fields such as environmental testing and food analysis, where the proper identification of unknowns is a critical line of defense in flagging pesticide or chemical contamination, among other analyses. 

The ecTOF is a novel GC-HRMS that excels in non-targeted analysis, by enabling the simultaneous recording of electron ionization (EI) and chemical ionization (CI) spectral data in a single run.

EI and CI are both frequently used ionization techniques in mass spectrometry, with CI being considered a “soft ionization” technique that is well-suited to analyzing molecules that would fragment too easily under the conditions used in EI. Used in combination, EI spectra can glean a wealth of structural information via extensive fragmentation, while CI provides useful molecular mass information. By enabling the simultaneous recording of EI and CI spectra in a single experimental run, the ecTOF allows for increased confidence in the identification of unknown compounds.

“What separates [the ecTOF] from other high-res GC systems is the ability to do EI and CI at the same time. What that does is align the EI and CI data into the same timeline,” Zonderman explained. “Traditionally, the user would either run two separate instruments or they would run it once, then change the source, then run it again. That is very manual, laborious and causes challenges – the retention times don’t exactly match. On the ecTOF, it is the same analysis, meaning that our database search is tightened. It moves high-res GC-MS from targeted to untargeted.”

In addition to advancing untargeted analysis in the food and environmental science sectors, this versatility of the ecTOF could also see its adoption in other fields, such as metabolomics.

“There could be a significant market in metabolomics. The ability to do untargeted screening in high-res now means the ecTOF could be an interesting product going forward in metabolomics for the same reasons – being able to get both EI and CI in a single run,” Zonderman said. Non-targeted metabolomics relies on the ability to quickly and reliably identify small molecule biomarkers that are characteristic of a particular physiological state.

Introducing chromatography-free mass spectrometry

This sort of versatility is also a central feature of the EVOQ DART-TQ⁺ mass spectrometer. In addition to being compatible with traditional LC-MS workflows, the EVOQ DART-TQ⁺ is the world’s first triple quadrupole MS system designed for easy operation with a DART ion source.

DART, or “Direct Analysis in Real Time”, is a rapid and efficient ionization option for mass spectrometry that allows for the measurement of a wide range of analytes – whether they be solid, liquid or gas – in their native form.

The EVOQ DART-TQ⁺ is the only fully integrated DART-MS solution for high-throughput quantitative analysis that enables the use of revolutionary chromatography-free workflows that lower operational costs, reduce solvent consumption and cut down on chemical waste. 

“Removing the chromatography takes away a lot of the complexities and the frustrations,” Zonderman said. “DART is a much more robust system; it’s more accessible for users because they don’t need expertise in chromatography to run it or troubleshoot.”

In bypassing the need for upfront chromatography, the EVOQ DART-TQ⁺ can offer 20-second analysis times per sample, making it a fast solution for routine drug, food and environmental testing applications.

“One of the areas that we were really struck with as an emerging need, which is definitely highlighted here at ASMS, is the area of toxicology and the area of POPs - persistent organic pollutants. One of the challenges in those areas is the robustness of the mass spectrometers,” Zonderman said. “We are really pushing and applying the DART into these markets to increase uptime by using it as a screening tool or a quantitative tool.”

Jeffery Zonderman, senior vice-president of Bruker Applied MS was speaking to Alexander Beadle, Science Writer for Technology Networks.

About the interviewee:

Jeffrey Zonderman, senior vice-president of Bruker Applied MS, has been involved in mass spectrometry and chromatography for over 30 years. Jeffrey was previously CEO of IonSense Inc, a company that commercialized DART (Direct Analysis in Real Time) technology. In his current role, he looks to expand the applications of chromatography-free mass spectrometry-based workflows into routine testing laboratories.